AEKANSAS. 



33 



by the same court to have been illegally issued. 

 The vote on the Fishback amendment, which 

 repudiates the bulk of the debt of Arkansas, 

 was about 61,000 for, to 41,000 against. It was 

 declared not carried, because it lacked 4,000 of 

 a majority of all the votes cast. The liabilities, 

 considered not binding by so large a proportion 

 of the citizens of the State, consist of about 

 $2,000,000 of levee bonds, $5,000,000 of rail- 

 way-aid bonds, and other disputed liabilities, 

 aggregating about $4,000,000. There is an 

 admitted debt amounting to some $5,000,000, 

 over half of which is funded. The ground on 

 which the levee and railroad subsidy were out- 

 lawed by the courts, and on which they are 

 disclaimed by the people, is principally that 

 the acts authorizing their issue were not passed 

 in the manner provided by the State Consti- 

 tution. The other class of bonds which it is 

 sought to exclude, known as the Holford bonds, 

 were a part of the whole series issued under 

 the funding act in 1870-'71. They are objected 

 to on the ground of general fraud. The other 

 funded bonds of the State are recognized as 

 valid by all parties. The Legislature in the 

 early part of the session of 1881 passed an act 

 directing the Auditor and Treasurer to drop 

 from their books the levee, railroad-aid, and 

 Holford bonds. 



The settlement of the debt question in a way 

 which shall be understood to be final, whether 

 by the acknowledgment of the entire debt, or 

 the repudiation of a portion of it, would prob- 

 ably promote the commercial progress of Ar- 

 kansas. The cessation of lawless license and 

 the universal observance of legal methods would 

 have a much more powerful effect in attracting 

 capital and immigration. The recent extension 

 of railroads is already leading to the establish- 

 ment of new industries, and the enlargement 

 of the agricultural area. Although its develop- 

 ment has been slower than that of any other 

 State, the natural resources of Arkansas are 

 scarcely excelled. Nearly the entire area of the 

 State is cultivable land of high average quality. 

 The soil is seven to ten feet in depth, and con- 

 tains potash, soda, magnesia, ferrous oxide, 

 lime, and phosphoric acid in favorable quanti- 

 ties. The greater part of the 10,000,000 acres 

 donated by Congress as " swamp-lands," need 

 no reclamation whatever. Timber-land in this 

 State is easily brought under cultivation, as 

 stumps rot thoroughly in three years. The 

 crops of the prairie States and of the Gulf 

 States thrive equally. The yield of cotton is 

 as large in proportion to the labor applied as 

 in any part of America. It is a surer crop in 

 Southern Arkansas, probably, than in any other 

 district. Sugar-cane, tobacco, and all the cereals 

 are cultivated with profit. The planting-season 

 lasts from February till August, so that, if a 

 crop does not promise well, a second one can 

 be planted and harvested the same season. 



Arkansas is one of the richest timber States 

 in the Union, though this source of wealth has 

 been as yet but little developed. The abundant 

 VOL. xxi. 3 A 



growth of excellent black-walnut will doubtless 

 come into requisition as the supplies of that 

 valuable wood fail in Indiana, Upper Canada, 

 and other northern districts, while the demand 

 still increases. There are seventy varieties of 

 useful timber in Arkansas. Besides black-wal- 

 nut, there are numerous other highly-prized 

 timber-trees, which attain large proportions, 

 and grow in abundance. There are several 

 varieties of the oak. The cherry, the bois- 

 d'arc, the holly, and the maple furnish choice 

 qualities of timber. The cedar, the beech, the 

 poplar, the cypress, the hickory, and the ash 

 are common. The yellow pine grows to large 

 size, and its forests take up one tenth of the 

 area of the State. With 2,500 miles of navi- 

 gable rivers, with a greater length of running 

 water than any other inland State, the facilities 

 for driving logs render the wealth of valuable 

 lumber, which clothes a greater part of the 

 State's surface, easily accessible. Walnut logs 

 have already been shipped in large quantities 

 to Eastern manufactories and to England. The 

 price of this favorite wood is constantly rising. 

 The lumber was at first floated in rafts, buoyed 

 up by intermingled cypress logs, to New Or- 

 leans, and thence shipped on cars to the East, 

 but is now transported directly by rail. 



Arkansas is also a State of extraordinary 

 though undeveloped mineral wealth. The coal- 

 fields, covering 12,000 square miles, and con- 

 taining more than those of Great Britain, 

 afford anthracite and cannel as well as bitumi- 

 nous coal, deposited in strata of four to nine feet 

 in thickness. The semi-anthracite quality char- 

 acteristic of these beds renders the coal excellent 

 for smelting and manufacturing purposes. The 

 iron-ores are as rich as those of Missouri, and 

 nearly as abundant. Specular and hematite 

 ores both abound. The lead-ores of Arkansas 

 are of remarkable richness, containing, not only 

 a large percentage of lead, but a considerable 

 proportion of silver associated with it. Veins 

 have been found yielding 70 per cent of pure 

 lead and 200 ounces of silver per ton ; and 

 assays of 6 per cent of silver have been known. 

 Perhaps the largest zinc deposits on the con- 

 tinent are found in this State, and stores of 

 'manganese unexcelled in any part of the world. 

 Among the other prospectively valuable mineral 

 resources are mines of salt, antimony in abun- 

 dance, gypsum in greater quantities than the 

 other States contain tosrether, and, in Pike 

 County,' near the Little Missouri River, a whole 

 mountain of fine alabaster. Silver-mining 

 operations are being started in the Mount Ida 

 district, in Montgomery County. The ores are 

 as rich as many which are profitably worked 

 in districts where the business has been long 

 established, but where the facilities are far in- 

 ferior. In Pulaski County, just out of Little 

 Rock, there are other ledges of ore which assay 

 from 50 to 1,200 ounces a ton. Zinc is found 

 in vast, easily accessible beds of calamine, or 

 carbonate, which is the most easily worked of 

 the zinc-ores, and also in the form of the 



